Study finds corporate responsibility data “appalling”
Environmental claims by UK companies are often based on “incorrect and irrelevant” data, according to a Leeds University study.
The researchers from the University of Leeds and Euromed Management School (France) found unsubstantiated claims, gaps in data and inaccurate figures when they analysed more than 4,000 corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, rankings and surveys published by companies worldwide, going back ten years. 
Dr Ralf Barkemeyer, a lecturer in Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Leeds, described the quality of the data as “appalling at times”.
The study due to be published will show that fewer than one in six out of 443 European Union companies featuring in the FTSE All World Index between 2005 and 2009, reported greenhouse gas emissions that covered all corporate activities, while others did not say which activities their data referred to.
The 2007 sustainability report from UK telecoms giant BT is of particular interest. 99.8% of its waste is apparently due to a few Belgian office workers, while none of its Southeast Asian or Australian employees consumed any water.
Italian energy company ENEL cited its carbon emissions as 122,089 million tons – four times the total produced on Earth.
Dr. Barkemeyer was critical of CSR metrics produced by companies such as KPMG, which often use GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) metrics. He noted that very few criteria applied relate to the actual impact of corporate activity on the environment and society, focusing instead on aspects such as the existence of a strategy or the implementation of environmental management systems or policy formulation.
Companies get kudos for stating where they want to go, but no one bothers to check if they actually got there.
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